Life-saver for cars



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P. M. CHAPMAN. LIFE SAVER FOR CARS.

No. 524,190. Patent A1; 7, 1894.

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7. s Sheets-Shet 2. F. M. CHAPMAN. LIFE SAVER FOR. cARs.

No. 524,190. Patented-Aug. 7. 1894.

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No; 524,190. Patented Aug. 7, 1894. v

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UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE.

FRANK M. CHAPMAN, on NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO STELLA FTCHAJP- MAN, OF SAME PLACE, AND OHARL MASSACHUSETTS.

ES B. JEFFERSON, OF BUZZARDS BAY,

LIFE-SAVER FOR CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 524,190, dated August 7, 1894.

Application filed February 15. 1894. Serial No. 500,246. (No model.)

Toall whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK M. CHAPMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Life-Savers for Street- Oars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled to in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to devices to be attachedto the front of a motor driven carfor the purpose of preventing persons who should I 5 happen to get in the way of the car, while in motion, from being run over.

The object of my invention is to improve upon the general construction of such devices so that the person unfortunate enough 26 to be in the path of the car will not onlybe protected from the wheels but will also be protected from the momentum of the car which throws thepersonforwardand down. My device is designed to remove the last I danger by lifting the person into a receptacle before the momentum of the car can get in its work. The invention consists of constructions and combinations all as will hereinafter, be set go forth in the specification and pointed out in r the claims reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a top plan of my device secured to part of a car truck frame; Fig.

. 5 2, a longitudinal section on line 2-2 Fig. 1,

looking in the direction of arrow 2; Fig. 3, a cross section on line 3-3 Fig. 1; Fig. 4, a transverse section of the buffer on an enlarged scale; Fig. 5, a longitudinal section of the bufier on an enlarged scale; and Fig. 6, a

detail showing the slot, key, ends of thefinger support, and meansfor holding them together. Y Y

A, represents a truck frame to which the 5 life saving device A is attached. If the car is to be run in reverse directions a life saving device A is-attached 'to each end of the car or its trucks. The life saver is attached inany desiredway tothe truck, preferably by means of arms A and A which holdthe device in front of the car at any desired distance and are preferably at their front ends provided with a downward extension awhich brings the bufferA to a position that will prevent any object passing under it. The buifer is'provided with fingers a and is journaled in extensions (1. in any suitable manner. It is provided, also, with sprocket wheels a'at each end for the driving chains a one on each side and in practice properly housed byashield or other device (not shown). The under line or part of the chain is supported by a sheave b secured to the frame and prevents it from sagging. These chains a are driven by sprocket wheels a on a countershaft a and are of greater diameter than sprocket wheels or. Adriven pinion a of less diameter than sprocket wheels a is also on' this shaft and .receives its power from a drive wheel a on one of the axles a of the truck. 76

This drive pinion a is provided with a mem' her a of a clutch. The other member a of the clutch is upon the axle a and is controlled by a lever a in the usual manner. This arrangement of gearing will give to the buffer a very. high speed whereby a result is obtained that makes this device peculiarly useful and efficacious in saving life} Y i It iisa well known fact that most of the 'accidents are due to the high speed with which 8o cable and other motor cars are run, and the i inability of the operator to stop 'the car in time when he sees the danger to the person on the track. If the car is provided with the ordinary form of life saver, the probabilities '85 are that the person will be knocked forward as well as down and severely injured by reason of the blow that will be given him by the part of the life saver that first hits his person,

This will happen even if the life saver be pro- 0 vided witha rotating bufier at the front part and provided with resilient fingers for picking up theperson and depositing him in a receptacle back of the buffer, if; said buffer is not rotated at a very high rate of speed. 5 I

When so rotated the buffer acts as anin- 'clined plane which slides under the person and lifts him into the basket before any impact from the motion of the car could be felt by him. To accomplish this result the buffer [00 is geared to its rotating mechanism so that it l will-revolve in a direction opposite to thatin which the car is going and may be produced by any desired means of gearing that will rtate the buffer and maintain the high rate of speed required; that is the periphery of the buflfer should rotate so much faster than the periphery of the car wheels that the speed of the car will be less than the speed of the periphery of the bufier so that when the bufier strikes a person, its peripherylifts him over the buffer before the impact due to the speed of the car is felt at said buffer. This is accomplished by arranging the gearing between the car wheel and the bufler in such manner that agiven point upon the periphery of the bufler will move in the same time a distance, if taken in astraight line, greater than a given point upon the periphery of the car wheels would move during one revolution of the said wheels if taken upon a straight line. In other words, the gearing is such that if the periphery of the car wheel were five feet and the periphery of the buffer were five feet, a given point upon the periphery of the buffer will travel more than five feet while a given point on the periphery of the car wheels is moving only five feet. As the circumference of the buffer is less than that of the car wheel in the example shown in the drawings it follows that a given point on the periphery of the buffer will have to rotate at a high rate of speed to traverse more distance in the same time than that of the car wheel. My gearing is designed to give to said given point on the buffer avery high rate of speed so that when the buffer strikes a person its rapid rotation will shield him from the impact of the car until he strikes the semi-elastic net in front of the body of the car, this result being due to the fact that the rapidly revolving buffer acts as an inclined plane to lift the person instead of a ram to knock him down as is the case when the buffer is not so rotated.

is interposed between the car and the buffer.

This shield may be of any desired height and has a forward extension 01 that covers the space between the buffer and vertical part of the shield and which is preferably made of metal but may be of any other material that will not sag or allow the person dropped from the vertical part upon the horizontal part to come in contact with the track. The vertical part (1 of the shield is preferably made of elastic material of sufficient elasticity to give a little when the person strikes it, yet insufficient to throw him toward the bufier by the reaction after he has struck the shield. This part of the shield is formed by lacing back and forth the cord d between the different parts of the framing (i and may be stretched v I according to the kind of material used.

The buffer is provided on its periphery with a number of finger like projections a of any desired material, preferably of rubber of sufficient elasticity to give in a small degree when brought in contact with a person and projecting tangentially therefrom in the direction that the buffer is to be revolved to more readily engage the clothing of the person to be saved. The support 0. for the fingers may be of any suitable material, preferably rubber, to which the fingers are secured in any desired manner. The backing forthis support is of sufficient'strength and resistance to maintain the cylindrical shape of the buffer as any bending or depression caused by contact with a person would cause the buffer to act less efficiently than would be the case. if the cylinder were unyielding. Another advantage is that the buifer is less liable to be injured if it should be run into by a heavy dray 0r wagon.

The preferred manner offorming thebuf-- fer isto secure to the shaft b',aseries 0f hubs or a sleeve b havingradial arms b made preferably of sheet metal bent into the form of a V and having the ends split and spread for attachment to the hubs or sleeve by one end and for attachment of a metal cylinder b at the other end. This metalcylinder is formed of a series of angle irons 12 joined togetherby their flanges b and secured to the radial arms 19 by their flanges b which form when properly joined together a strong framing'for the buffer that will resist any collision that a street car is liable to meet.

The manner of securing the key I) to the frame is preferably by means of pins b attached to the apex of the key and nuts b that abut against the inner edge of the metal forming the slot 17 If it be desired'to remove or put on a support a the object can be accomplished readily by means of this key and its securing device without removing the buffor from its journals. It will be noted that the periphery of the drum presents ,a solid face toward the track and that the gearing is secured to the ends, and, when properly housed, presents no surface that would retard the action of the buffer, as would be the case if the buffer were formed of several cylinders on a common shaft and having a space between them that would catch the leg or arm of a person and break or tear it off as would certainly be the case if gear or other driving mechanism worked in the spaces.

I am aware that a car having a bufier in front thereof and operated by gearing connected with one of the axles of the car, and a safety shield interposed between the buffer and truck of the car are old. 1 am also aware that the broad idea of a flexible shield is not new. tions in that the flexible shield is in front of the car body to protect a person from being thrown against that part of the car, whereas My device differs from such construcin the devices above referred to the shield only protects the person from contact with the truck. Furthermore, the shield in front of the car body is a necessity, as the buffer lifts the person who would strike the car body were it not for the shield. The vertical part 524,190 g a g 3 of the shield musttherefore be elastic to prevent the person from getting as hard a blow as he otherwise would receive-if the shield were of stifi material. It is also necessary that the shield be not too elastic as the repoint on the car wheel, that the said point on the bufier would travel a greater distance during one revolution of the wheels than said wheels would travel thereby giving to the pe-. riphery of the bufier a speed sufficient, es

-pecially with the aid of the fingers, to lift a person against the elastic shield before impact due toithe momentum of the car could injure the person.

What I claim as new is 1. The combination of a car; a bufier in front of said oar; gearing connecting one of the car axles with the buffer, said gearing bein g arranged to rotate, during each revolution of the car wheels on said axles, a given point on the periphery of the bufier a greater distance than the circumference of said wheels; and, a safety shield interposed between the bufier and front of the body of the car and having an elastic vertical part and horizontal part.

2. The combination of a car; a buffer in front of said car; gearing connecting one of the car axles with the bufier, said gearing bein g arranged to rotate, during each revolution of the car wheels on said axles, a given point on the periphery of the butter a greater distance than the circumference of said wheels; and asafety shield interposed between the buffer and the front of the body of the car and having an elastic vertical part and a horizontal metal part.

3. The combination of a car; a bufier in front of said car having projecting fingers on its periphery; gearing connecting one of the car axles with the buifer, said gearing being I arranged to rotate, during each revolution of the car wheels on said axles, a given point on the periphery of the bufier a greater distance than the circumference of the wheels; and a safety shield interposed between the bufier and front of the body of the car and having an elastic vertical part and a horizontal part.

4. The combination of a car; a bufier in front of said car havingfingers projecting tangentially from its periphery; gearing connecting one of the car axles with the buffer, said gearing being arranged to rotate, during each revolution of the car wheels on said axles, a given point on the periphery of the bufier a greater distance than the circumference of said wheels; and a safety shield interposed between the buffer and front of the body of the car and having an elastic vertical part and a horizontal part. I

5. In a life saving device, a bufier having the base of its cylinder formed of a series of angle irons joined together andprovided with a series of fingers on a support inclosing said cylinder.

6. Ina lender for a life saving device, the combination of the metallic cylinder having the open V shaped slot, the finger support having its ends inserted in said slot, and the key having means for holding it in place in said slot.

' In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses. s

, I FRANK M. CHAPMAN. Witnesses:

BLANCHE CHAPMAN FORD, M. F. HALLECK. 

